By Herb Boyd
Managing Editor, TBWT
New York--Expressing their outrage against a war in Iraq they feel is unjust and immoral, thousands of protesters assembled in Marcus Garvey Park here on Saturday morning and then marched to Central Park. The large banner held aloft and at the front of the contingent said it plainly: Harlem's Legacy is Fight Back!

We are giving voice to a new direction in the anti-war movement, declared Nellie Bailey, founder and executive director of the Harlem Tenants Council and one of the march's key coordinators. And there is now way they can take this away from us.

On the second anniversary of the war in Iraq, where more than 1500 U.S. soldiers have been killed and thousands of Iraqi citizens, the protesters in Harlem were joined by rallies and demonstrations against the war all over the world, including massive turnouts in Europe.
There were also a number of acts of civil disobedience in front of U.S. Armed forces recruiting stations throughout the New York metropolitan area. After bearing hundreds of coffins draped in American flags and representing U.S. troops killed in the war, marchers gathered at Times Square, where 37 people were arrested and hauled away in police vans. Each one of the volunteer protesters wore a vest with the image of dead soldier.

In Harlem, the marchers stopped in front of the recruiting office and began chanting "Armed forces out of Harlem!"According to some reports, this recruiting station is one of the busiest in the city for recruiting new army personnel. We don't want our young people to become cannon fodder, Councilman Charles Barron told reporters.

At Central Park, Congressman Charles Rangel was among the speakers. He charged that while the demonstrations might be unpopular, but it's the right thing to do.
Most of the protesters agreed, including a young Harlem couple with their children in tow. Instead of spending millions of dollars in a war they seems without endand certainly without purpose we could use that money here in Harlem to take care of the homeless and people suffering from all kinds of problems, the man said, requesting his name not be used. This war is not being conducted in my name.

One observer at the Harlem rally was concerned that the number of African Americans was small compared to whites. Where is Harlem? We got be more involved, said Sekou Abdallah, a book vendor.

But as the marchers moved from Marcus Garvey Park and up 125th Street to Malcolm X Boulevard, an increased number of Blacks joined the demonstration. It was by far the largest anti-war march in Harlem in recent times.

And we are going to keep marching and protesting until the war is over, Bailey told reporters